RETARDED RESEARCH
Poetry by Jenny Moxham

RETARDED RESEARCH
Poetry by Jenny Moxham

Some folk will try to tell you that to cure our human ills,
To find a cure for cancer or to test arthritis pills,
We need to do our testing, on mice and dogs and cats,
And other little animals like guinea pigs and rats.

Well this is simply quite untrue as very soon you'll see,
'Cos what is safe for them to eat could poison you and me.
What's poison to a human, to a goat or to a cat,
Could be a tasty morsel to a guinea pig or rat.

Monkeys can eat strychnine, and guinea pigs can too,
Yet just a small amount would cause the death of me and you.
And belladonna's something that's as harmless as can be,
If you're a goat or rabbit, yet not for you and me.

Henbane is a poison to a man but not a snail,
Tho' digitalis helps our hearts, it may cause dog's to fail.
Morphine sends a man to sleep, and yet it wakes up cats,
And aspirin, safe for humans, causes birth defects in rats.

Thalidomide passed all the tests, on animals galore,
Yet caused bizarre deformities in babies by the score.
A migraine drug called Imetrex, caused heart attack and stroke,
And Zyban caused depression, and killed a lot of folk.

So clearly tests on animals, do nothing but mislead,
They simply hinder progress which is something we don't need.
It's surely time to end these tests along with all the pain,
And forge ahead with real research, enlightened and humane.

- - -

Thousands of animals are tortured and killed every day
in the name of medical research. This research is dangerously misleading
because one cannot safely apply data from one species to another.
Alternatives to animal testing exist. It is not only unethical to use
animals in research, it is clearly unsafe and represents bad science.